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Taipei’s best spots to cafe-hop

There has been a 180° shift in what we look for when we travel.

There has been a 180° shift in what we look for when we travel.

Especially when it comes to food. Forget outposts of global chains and big-name restaurants: These days, armed with Google Maps and Instagram, travellers are sniffing out independent local brands, hidden cafes and pop-up showcases at every new holiday destination.

As it turns out, Taipei is the perfect hunting ground to satiate your thirst for all things culture-related, whether you’re a Hello Kitty lover or an in-denial hipster.

CAFE-HOPPING 101

Indulge in the world’s favourite new activity at Fujin Street. You’ll feel like you’ve been transported to Daikanyama in Tokyo. A quiet residential street and a few adjacent lanes play host to a medley of quaint cafes, independent multi-label boutiques boasting a tightly-edited curation of wares from leather goods to niche magazines, and even art galleries. There’s even a branch of cult Japanese store BEAMS here, so how’s that for major street cred? The cafes don’t sell only coffee and cakes either: Fujin Tree 353 Cafe (you must order the deliciously heady Dark Brown Sugar Latte) boasts an in-store florist and two shelves of wares from local independent bookstore, Shimokitazawa Generations. Next door, Fujin Tree 355 sells an assortment of Japanese ceramic homeware, delicate jewellery and even packets of its own original blend of beans, a collab with local producer Alisan Coffee. Across the street, De’a is battling its own stylish crowd with customers browsing its shelves of leather bags and accessories from the likes of Property Of ... and Sandqvist.

Cafe-hopping continues within one of Taiwan’s oldest and most well-preserved structures, an abandoned factory in the heart of the city that was among Taiwan’s largest wine producers in the 1920s. Huashan 1914 Creative Park is a space that plays host to many of Taipei’s arts performances and showcases; many at the same time. On the Saturday we visited, a swing festival was in well, full swing, along with a One Piece Expo, a mini bazaar with vendors selling a mix of vintage clothing and a LINE pop-up store.

Like a microcosm of Taipei, Huashan’s cafes run the spectrum from celebrity-owned ventures — which are dotted all around the city — to ones with in-house bookstores. Jay Chou lovers would probably know about the cavernous space that is Jay Chou’s Deja Vu, where the singer’s Batmobile and grand piano take pride of place alongside massive oil paintings and gargoyles. Much less kitschy is Mayday bassist Masa’s Offline, whose hidden storefront and crates-as-tables tick all the boxes on the hipster cafe checklist.

Meanwhile, VVG Thinking blends industrial-meets-vintage styles effortlessly with a cafe on the first floor and design store on the second, and is a convenient way to check out the VVG chain (which stands for Very Very Good, by the way), which started 15 years ago and has grown to encompass multiple offshoots.

PARKS AND RECREATION

From Huashan, head to Songshan Cultural and Creative Park for more design-centric, creative spots and yes, more cafes. Opened in November last year, Taiwan’s first modernised tobacco factory is now the city’s latest gathering hub. As with Huashan, the sprawling space consists of refurbished warehouses, boiler rooms and the like. There’s a variety of exhibitions, weekend markets, launch parties, small-scale performances and more here. Food trucks dot the entrance to the Eslite Spectrum Song-yan Store, which, besides housing the famous local bookstore chain, is also filled with branches of popular Taiwanese cafes and restaurants, including Cafe Showroom and VVG Action. It even has an arthouse cinema.

It’s not only old factories that have been converted into new lifestyle and cultural hubs. Maji Maji Square, within Taipei Expo Park’s Yuanshan Park ,makes use of a space originally built as part of the Taipei International Flora Exposition in 2010 and 2011. Dreamed up by pop singer Harlem Yu and architect Eugene Yeh, it comprises six different areas, including Maji Food & Deli, which brings together a wide range of locally produced artisanal food; a Creative Market that sells clothes, accessories and lifestyle items from various vendors; Food Fair, a food court with stalls hawking local and international cuisine; and a Specialty Shop Walkway, which houses some of the city’s beloved gourmet destinations such as hipster bagel seller Good Cho’s and Midori ice cream. A visit here is an ideal way to spend your weekend, when small outdoor concerts and food markets pop up to add to the lively, festival-like atmosphere.

Of course, while cafes are great and all, an Eggs Benedict soon tastes the same — no matter where you are. So sometimes you need a tasty reminder, such as a visit to the cafe nestled within Red Sakura Hello Kitty Souvenir Store. This is no third-wave coffee movement joint — the signature dish is a crushed ice dessert with generous lashings of red bean, bow-shaped jelly and a Hello Kitty-shaped pastry. We might not be sure what species Hello Kitty is, but she sure tasted super yummy in this form.

You can complete your cultural immersion by starting and ending your journey to Taiwan on board one of Taiwanese airline EVA Air’s Hello Kitty Charter flights, available exclusively on certain departure dates this December via selected travel agents. The experience starts from Hello Kitty boarding passes and baggage stickers at the airport to more than 100 in-flight service items decorated with the feline, from headrest covers to hand cream and even bento-style meals decorated with Hello Kitty-shaped garnishes.

You could say something like this is the cat’s whiskers.

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